Don’t Let Injuries Stop Your Health

Once when my kids were younger,  I dislocated my shoulder playing hide and seek. Now before you start laughing (I know – too late) let me explain…

We were playing a serious game of hide-and-seek-in-the-dark. I was trying to pull myself up to a shelf where I could lay down and hide. As I got to the top of the shelf, I slipped. I managed to catch myself on two different shelves at different heights and quickly felt a pain in my left shoulder. I decided to ignore it and attempted to reach for the shelf again.

As I began to pull up, I felt a “kerplunk” as my shoulder fell back into the joint space. I then realized I had dislocated and then relocated my shoulder. Then, the pain hit! I immediately sat down to assess the damage. I could still feel everything, and despite the pain, I seemed to be okay. I decided to tough it out and started playing again. Shortly thereafter, I felt the pop and pain again. I had that sinking feeling you get when you realize you have something seriously wrong. In Special Forces, they would always ask the question, “Are you hurt, or are you injured?” I had the sinking feeling that I was injured.

Assess the Situation 

I had an MRI the next day that confirmed what I already knew. I had, in fact, messed up my shoulder, but I decided not to allow that to stop me from staying fit. To be honest, it never occurred to me to stop working out after the injury, until people questioned me about still going to the gym.

I went to the gym to assess what I could still do. For the next several weeks, I realized I could improve my cardio and my legs. The fact is, I probably needed both, as I had a tendency to work my upper body more if given a choice in the past. This shoulder injury opened doors to work on other, equally important, areas.

Be the Exception

Many of my patients and clients do the same as me. They find a way to work around their injury, illness, or disability, and I always admire them for it. Nonetheless, that seems to be the exception in our society. Most people are looking for a reason they cannot do anything.

Do you ever use excuses like:

“I can’t go to the gym because my back hurts.”

“I am too tired to work out today.”

Excuses are Hogwash

HOGWASH! 

The truth is, people use excuses to keep them from being healthy. If you are one of those people, stop making excuses! Start Living Every Minute of your life to improve you!

I recently watched a show called Breakthroughs with Tony Robbins. Tony worked with quadriplegics playing murderball, a game similar to rugby, in wheelchairs. Watching them play reminded me not to complain about a little shoulder injury.

If you are one of the people who have built up a story around why you can’t do things, rewrite your story today. The only difference between where you are and where you want to be is the story you keep telling yourself about why you can’t get there. I will keep you updated on my shoulder. Until then, I would love to hear related stories you may have about how you have overcome obstacles to maintain your health.

Living Every Minute,

Dr. Tim